PCB Edge Plating

MCL offers a state-of-the-art printed circuit board fabrication facility, allowing us to overcome many problems common in the industry. This includes proper execution of PCB edge castellation, where we can keep quality to tight tolerances for edge plating, even after profiling.

You might have heard this concept called “edge plating” or “castellation,” which is the copper plating that runs from the top to the bottom surfaces of a PCB, and runs along at least one of the perimeter edges. PCB edge castellation ensures a strong connection through the board and limits the chance of equipment failures, especially in controlling protections for small form factor boards and sub-motherboards.

Edge Plating PCB Process

Circuit board fabrication for edge soldering requires precision handling and faces many challenges around how plated edges are prepared and the lifetime adhesion of the plated material.

MCL has established industry practices and uses other optimum standards to ensure that our PCB edge castellation thoroughly prepares edge surfaces, applies the plated copper for immediate adhesion and processes the board to ensure long-term adhesion of every layer.

By using a controlled process in our circuit board fabrication for edge soldering, we can limit any potential hazard for through-holes and half-holes on the edge. The most significant concern is the creation of burrs, which will lead to the failure of mission-critical parts and can damage your equipment.

Applications

Edge plating circuit boards are common in many industries, and edge plating is a common practice. You’ll find PCB edge castellation (or edge plating PCB) applied in many cases, including:

Improving current-carrying capabilities

Edge connections and protection

Edge soldering to improve fabrication

Better support for connections such as boards that slide into metal casings

Please note that edge plating on printed circuit boards is a very simple addition in many cases, but it requires specialized equipment and training. It’s an option for many different boards, but we always recommend taking this type of request to a manufacturer who has an established reputation of circuit board castellation.

We’ll be able to perform the right checks to keep everything safe. For example, circuit board castellation should never cause the internal power planes to come to the edge of the board, because it can short the edge plating. When you travel, always mind the gap. When we perform circuit board fabrication for edge soldering, we always make sure there’s a gap before the edge plating.

MCL offers leading engineering support for on-time, high-quality products — no matter how large or small your order might be. We deliver with more than a 98% satisfaction rating, 99% quality performance and 99% on-time delivery.

Got a specific need and a specific budget? We’ll work with you to find the right production that delivers competitive pricing through smart options such as offshore or domestic manufacturing choices.

We want to be the only partner you need for edge plating printed circuit boards.

New Customer Promotion

MCL is running a free tooling promotion for new customers!

If you're not already a current customer of MCL, now is the time to make the switch! MCL is offering free tooling on one 2-layer board of your choice. For boards higher than 2-layers, we will subtract $195 off of the total tooling price.